This invention concerns apparatus for collecting and confining scrap material such as cardboard sheet or collapsed cardboard boxes in a neat and organized fashion to thereby facilitate baling or binding of a quantity of such scrap material into a bale and subsequent convenient removal of the bale from the apparatus.
Retail stores face a constant waste disposal problem in that a great deal of the goods carried by retail stores are shipped to the stores from distributors or manufacturers in large cartons of paperboard construction. In larger retail outlets, the volume of waste packing material is great enough to justify the investment in expensive and efficient mechanized waste paper collecting, compacting and baling apparatus; however, such apparatus typically is beyond the financial means of smaller retailers. Additionally, large mechanized baling apparatus takes considerable floor space and smaller retailers typically cannot justify the commitment of space required for such apparatus.
Of course, retailers per se are not the only businesses affected by this waste disposal problem. Any small business which receives goods or materials in paperboard packing cartons must find a way to dispose of the packing material. The problem is particularly vexing for those businesses which rely on high turnover for profitability since increases in turnover inherently add to the volume of waste packing material to be disposed of, in direct proportion to the volume of incoming goods.
The prior art is replete with examples of apparatus for collecting waste paper and similar materials. Examples include U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,193,340, 3,897,724, 4,298,126, 3,850,092, 4,395,941, and 4,681,032. Other patents pertinent to apparatus for use in strapping or bundling articles include U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,494,279 and 3,727,543.